Water sanitizers using antimicrobial media are known in the art. Typically, these types of sanitizers are provided as independent, separately plumbed units which hold the sanitizing media in the flow path of the water to be treated. In such installations, the sanitizers are usually plumbed after the filter so that only clean, filtered water passes through the sanitizing media. This prevents fouling of the sanitizing media with contaminants present in the water. Vessels for holding the sanitizing media can be fairly expensive due to the need to resist internal pressure and the need for a pressure tight access cover. In addition, a separate sanitizer vessel requires additional space, and can increase product and installation costs. To limit the flow restriction caused by passing fluid at a high flow rate through sanitizing media, these devices commonly use some type of a fluid bypass. Unfortunately, this limits the amount of fluid that actually contacts the media.
A need remains, therefore, for conveniently and economically providing a sanitizer to work in conjunction with a variety of filter systems.